NATIONAL
HOLIDAYS, CHRISTMAS AND EASTER
We
have church and profane feasts. Church feasts are
Christmas and Easter. Besides this traditional holidays the Czech calendar
includes holidays of relatively recent origin and anniversaries of important
historical events.
The
1st of January: the Presidents New Year's Day Address
and the foundation of the Czech Republic.
May
Day, the international worker's festival. It is a memory
of the victims of the Haymarket Riots, a workers demonstration in Chicago.
The
8th of May, another legal holiday, commemorates the
end of World War II in Europe and the liberation of Czechoslovakia; fall of
fascism.
July
5, feast day of Saints Cyril and Methodius. In 863 two
Greek brothers came from the Byzantine Empire to spread Christianity in Great
Moravia (and make the country independent of the German bishops). The
"Apostles of the Slavs" invented the Slavonic alphabet and used the
Slavonic language at church services.
July
6, John Huss, a well-known preacher at the Bethlehem Chapel
in Prague and professor at the Prague University, wanted to reform the Church,
especially improve the morals of the clergy. His teaching came into conflict
with the Roman Church. He was condemned as heretic and on July 6, 1415 burned.
The
28th of September, in 929 or 935 St. Wenceslas were
assassinated by his brother. St. Wenceslas is a symbol of Czech statesmanship.
The
28th of October is the day when in 1918 Czechoslovakia
came into existence as an independent state, after 300 years of subjugation by
the Habsburg dynasty.
28th of October in 1939 a
medical student, Jan Opletal, was fatally injured.
1945, Dr. Beneš signed nationalise
letters.
1968, Czechoslovakia became a federation
of two equal republics.
The
17th of November, it is a Student's Day; students of
Universities struggled against the
nazism, the Nazis closed all the universities in the country and sent thousands
of students to concentration camps. Several student leaders were executed and universities
were not reopened until after the end of the war.
17th of November, 1989 - it was
the beginning of the Velvet Revolution; fall of communism.
Christmas
Advent begins four weeks before Christmas
Eve (December 24th). The third Sunday before Christmas is called
Bronze Sunday, the second one Silver Sunday and the first Sunday before
December 24th is Golden Sunday.
Christmas Day combines the Christian
celebration of birth of Christ with traditional festivities of winter.
Most families decorate their houses with
coloured paper, mistletoe, lights. Every family has a Christmas tree (fir or
pine), which is decorated with coloured lights, ornaments and star at the top.
Christmas trees are also placed in town squares.
Maybe two weeks before Christmas mothers
bake sweets. The most important tradition connected with Christmas is the
giving of presents. People sing carols at Christmas and send Christmas cards.
Christmas
in our family: when I get up I decorate a Christmas
tree and I watch fairy tales. Then I help my mother to prepare a dinner. We
have a dinner at seven o'clock - it is carp soap, potato salad with carp. After
dinner we go to Christmas tree and we unwrap the presents.
New
Year's Eve, 31st of December - it is not
a national holiday but people celebrate the beginning of the new year with
friends or at home with family.
Easter
Easter is a religious holiday. It
celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We celebrate Easter on Sunday and
Monday after the first spring full moon. On Monday in the morning boys go
around with a rod woven out of willow branches to spank the girls. They are
rewarded with coloured eggs or ribbons.
GREAT BRITAIN
St.
Valentine's Day, February 14th - it is a
lovers´ day. On this day young people send Valentine cards to a person of the
opposite sex, usually anonymously, and exchange gifts. The cards have funny,
loving or serious contents.
Christmas
- for most British families it is the most important
festival of the year. Most families decorate their houses with fairy lights and
bright coloured ornaments.
Christmas Eve, 24th December -
before English children go to bed they hang up Christmas stockings at the end
of their beds and they believe that Santa Claus rides through the air on a
sledge pulled by reindeer and comes down the chimney and fills up the stockings
with presents and toys.
Christmas Day, 25th December -
in the morning children enjoy unwrapping presents and at midday Christmas lunch
is a great occasion. It consists of roast turkey, potatoes, vegetables and
Christmas pudding.
Boxing Day, 26th December -
it is still the custom to give a present of money to the tradesmen - the
milkman, the postman, newspapers boys, etc. People usually go to a pantomime on
that day. This is a show which is always based on a traditional fairy tale.
People of all ages enjoy pantomime, especially children. Boxing Day is also the
time to visit friends and relatives.
UNITED STATES
They are no national holidays in the USA
since each state has the right to decide about its own holidays.
The
President's Day, 3rd Monday in February - on
this day all presidents of the USA are honoured.
Independence
Day, July 4 - this day commemorates the signing of the
Declaration of Independence in 1776, thus establishing the USA.
Columbus
Day, October 12 - it is the anniversary of the discovery
of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492.
Halloween,
October 31 - children celebrate it by dressing up in Halloween costumes with
masks over their faces. Carrying baskets or bags they go to their friends and
neighbours houses and they knock at the door or ring the bell. When people come
to the door, children say "Trick or treat" which means "Give us
a treat of we will play a trick on you". The people treat the children
with sweets, fruit or money. The most common trick is soaping the windows of
houses and cars. A favourite custom is to make a jack-o´-lantern from a pumpkin
which is scraped out and in which eyes, a nose and a mouth are cut and then a
candle is lit inside. The houses and the rooms are also decorated with paper
moons, witches and ghosts.
Thanksgiving, 4th
Saturday in November - national holiday in the USA and Canada; first celebrated
in 1621 by the Pilgrim settlers of Plymouth Colony on their first harvest. Now
it is an occasion for the whole family to be together. It is celebrated by a
traditional dinner whose main course is roast turkey.
Christmas -
is not national holiday in the USA but since most Americans are Christians,
people have a rest day on Christmas Day. Americans celebrate Christmas on
December 25th, and the celebration lasts all day. It is Santa Claus
that brings the gifts, and the night before Christmas Day, before the children
go to bed, they put out cookies and milk for Santa because he gets hungry on
his journey. Santa Claus lives on the North Pole and brings presents in a magic
sleigh, drawn by flying reindeer.
Christmas Day starts with the children
getting up very early because they are excited to see what Santa Claus has
brought them. Then, when everyone gets up, the family unwraps the larger gifts.
Later on in day, guests arrive for
Christmas dinner. It is usually ham or turkey with mashed potatoes, gravy and
vegetables. Dessert for Christmas dinner is usually cakes, such as a fruit
cake.
Vocabulary:
profane - světský
liberation - osvobození
preacher - kazatel
clergy - duchovenstvo
heretic - kacíř
resurrection - zmrtvýchvstání
rod - prut
weave - uplést
willow - vrba
lantern - lucerna